CMS Women's Volleyball Storms Past Cal Lutheran in Battle of SCIAC Unbeatens

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team fought off a first-set challenge from Cal Lutheran and then rolled to wins in the second and third sets as it remained undefeated with a 3-0 win over the Regals on Friday evening.

Set scores were 25-23, 25-15, 25-10 as CMS moves to 15-0 overall and 5-0 in the SCIAC, while Cal Lutheran slips to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in conference. 

Audrey Sawyer finished with an impressive total of 10 blocks in a three-set win. Izzy Sakoda also had a big day for CMS with 10 kills in 18 attempts, hitting .500, while Brooke McKee had 11 kills. Georgia McGovern had 20 assists and led CMS with 14 digs. 

The only real drama came in the first set, which CMS won by the minimum two-point margin. The Regals led 12-11 before CMS rattled off four straight points, behind two kills and a block from Sawyer. With the Athenas ahead 19-15, Cal Lutheran used a 5-0 run to take the lead and force an Athena timeout. A Jenna Holmes kill gave CMS back the lead at 21-20, and a Sawyer kill made it 24-22. Cal Lutheran fought off one set point on a Maci Haddad kill, but Sakoda came back with a kill to end the set 25-23. 

The Athenas then blew the second set open with a 10-0 run to take a 16-4 lead, using blocks for four of the points (three from Sakoda, and two from Sawyer). McKee finished off the set with a kill for a 25-15 win. 

Sakoda had back-to-back kills in the third to stake CMS to a 6-2 lead, and then a 12-2 run turned a 9-6 lead into a 21-8 advantage, with McKee and Sakoda each contributing three kills.  A block from Bell and Sawyer finished off the match with CMS taking the set 25-10 and the 3-0 win. 

CMS will be back in action on Tuesday night when it hosts Chapman for a 7 p.m. contest.